Happy Easter!
A special Easter message from The Rev’d Michael Shapcott, Executive Director
The full moon shone brightly over the Sorrento Centre on the Wednesday before Easter weekend – encircled by clouds and creating a glorious glow. It was a joyous promise of hope and light after a winter of cold and darkness.
The early days of spring have seen the crocuses spring to life in the gardens in front of Spes Bona, with the hyacinth and tulips sprouting.
There are buds on the trees and bushes, and our greenhouse is once again filled with trays of seedlings – the microgreens have been the first to sprout, and other vegetables are poking up. We’re prepping the field on our natural farm for planting in a few weeks…
In our Christian calendar, Easter is a solemn time to hold up the great mystery that is the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the new life offered all of us as a gift of grace. We see this grace – what Wendell Berry calls the “grace of the world” – all around us, in the twinkling stars overhead, in the calm waters of the Shuswap, in the trees and plants and in the joyous songs of the birds.
As we prepare for the new life that the late spring and summer brings to our beloved Centre, we have already welcomed a diversity of groups, from quilters and other fabric artists to yoga practitioners and contemplatives. We hosted a basket-making session with an Indigenous leader. We celebrated a wedding on campus and, on the same weekend, held the second annual session of our very popular psyanky workshop to write Ukrainian easter eggs.
Many experience the divine and the natural coming together in a liminal dance at this time of year. The 14th century mystic Julian of Norwich offers these words: “Be a gardener. Dig a ditch. Toil and sweat. And turn the earth upside down. And seek the deepness. And water plants in time. Continue this labor. And make sweet floods to run, and noble and abundant fruits to spring. Take this food and drink and carry it to God as your true worship.”
We are grateful to live, work, play and pray on Secwépemc’ulucw, the traditional, unceded territory of the Secwépemc people. They have lived on this land since time immemorial, practicing virtues of harmony and generosity – virtues we seek to live every day.
Our wish for all of our guests, our neighbours near and far, our many friends across British Columbia, Alberta and farther away, is for a joyous and blessed Easter and spring.
